Access door



Nov. 22, 1966 w. T. SCHEMBRI 3,286,405

ACCESS noon Filed May 14, 1964 WALL/HM 1. 5 ems/145w,

INVENTOR.

BY A

United States Patent 3,286,405 ACCESS DOOR William T. Schembri, Burbank,Calif. (10549 San Fernando Road, Pacoima, Calif. 91331) Filed May 14,1964, Ser. No. 367,303 6 Claims. (Cl. 49-463) This invention relates tobuilding construction and more particularly to a construction of anaccess door means.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a sheet metalaccess door means for use in building and other constructioncharacterized by simplicity of configuration, adaptable to economicalmanufacture in a wide range of sizes with inexpensive tooling, and whichinvolves an especially economical use of metal.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with such additionalobjects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention residesin the parts and in the construction, combination and arrangement ofparts described, by way of example, in the following specification ofcertain presently preferred embodiments of the invention, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings which form a part of saidspecification and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of an access door assemblyconstituting one presently preferred embodiment of the invention, aportion of the door component of the assembly being broken away todisclose other details of construction,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2-2of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, perspective, exploded view of certain of theframe components of the first embodiment of the invention prior to theassembly thereof to form the frame component,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a component for forming aframe of the second embodiment of the invention, a portion being brokenaway for clearness of illustration, and.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view of a corner of a frame componentemploying the structural element shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the illustrated embodiment comprises aframe component 1 and a door component 2. Having reference to FIG. 1,for convenience in identification only of the parts, the frame comprisesa top member 3, a bottom member 4 which, except for a slight differenceto be hereinafter noted, is identical with the top member, and two sidemembers 5, 5 which are identical to each other. The members areconnected together in any suitable manner preferably by welding,soldering or riveting to form the rectangular frame component which whenthus assembled constitutes a mounting flange 6, an outwardly projectingportion 7, and door receiving groove or channel means 8. The framecomponents are generally identical in cross section including themounting flange portion 6, the body portion 7 projecting at right anglestherefrom and the door receiving groove portion 8 formed by bending themetal at right angles to the body portion 7 to overhang the mountingflange and then bending it forward in a narrow return bend to form thegroove. The means for connecting the frame members together comprisetongue portions 9 formed as extensions of the body portion 7 of the sidemembers 5, 5 which are bent at right angles to the length of the memberto overlie the body portion 7 of the top and bottom members 3 and 4 towhich the said tongue portions are secured by welds 10, or any otherappropriate means. Additional-ly, the ends 11 of the mounting flangeportions of the frame members are beveled at angles slightly less than45 to the length of the respective members so that they overlap eachother to be secured ice together as by welds 12. The frame is completedby collapsing the return bend portion of the top member 3 as at 13 toallow the door component to move past it as shown in the upper righthand corner of FIG. 1.

The door component 2 is a rectangular sheet of metal or plastic which isslidingly guided in the groove portions of the side members 5, 5 andhaving the lower edge thereof received in the groove portion 8 of thebottom member 4. Any convenient handle means for grasping the door formanipulation thereof may be employed as, for example, the rebent topedge 14.

While in the illustrated embodiment the door is shown as movablevertically it is obvious that the door receiving grooves might bearranged to allow the door to move side wise. To achieve this, the doorreceiving groove portion 8 of one of the side members would be collapsedto allow the door to move past it and the corresponding groove 8 of thetop member 3 would be left in its original condition. Alternatively, theframe component shown in FIG. 1 might be rotated a quarter turn from theposition shown in that figure. It is particularly to be noted that thereis a very slight waste of material in the formation of the framecomponent and no waste of material whatever in the formation of the doorcomponent. The only waste of material would be the material lost throughthe configuration of the ends of the frame members. Moreover, whilespecial tooling may be more efficient, the various bends in the framemembers are those which can be readily formed with standard bendingtools found in any sheet metal shop and thus, the entire door assemblyis one which can be produced with the utmost economy.

Finally referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown a modification of theinvention in which the frame component is proposed to be formed fromlengths of suitably rolled material having the same cross sectionalconfiguration as the frame components of the first embodiment of theinvention. Since these portions are identical, they will be identifiedas mounting flange 6a, body portion 7a and door receiving groove portion8a. To form a frame component for the door 2, a suitable length of thisrolled material is first cut to the combined length of the body portiondefining the opening. Thereafter, at the points representing the cornersof the frame, sawcuts 15 through the mounting flange and the rebentportions are made and the length of material is thereafter bent into therectangular form by bends formed through the body portion 7a as at 16.This, of course, brings the edges of the sawcut 16 apart from each otheras shown at 17 in FIG. 5 and the edges of the groove portion 8a apartfrom each other at right angles as shown at 18. The ends of the framecomponent forming member are united and the corners thus formed are bothlocated at right angles to each other and reinforced by L-shaped plates19 welded or otherwise secured thereto as indicated at 20 in FIG. 5.Alternatively, the frame component forming member instead of beingpartially cut through as indicated at 16 can be completely separatedinto the appropriate lengths to form the desired frame and the ends ofthe members connected together in right angle relationship by theL-shaped members 19 as shown in FIG. 5. When the frame is formed, theappropriate one of the rebent portions can be flattened to provideclearance for the door component to slide past it as in the firstembodiment. This second embodiment of the invention is particularlyuseful for providing access door assemblies of non-standard sizes or forthose occasions when the assembly must be formed at the site ofinstallation. For such use, the frame forming components can befurnished in long lengths and can be readily cut to lengths and notchedand assembled on the job since the corner or angle plates 19 will serveto hold the sides of the frame thus formed at right angles to each otheras an incident to welding or otherwise securing the frame. Also, thedoor component can readily be cut from sheet material on the job.

While in the foregoing specification there have been disclosed certainpresently preferred embodiments of the invention, the invention is notto be deemed to be limited to the precise details of construction thusdisclosed by Way of example and it will be understood that the inventionincludes as well, all such changes and modifications in the parts and inthe construction, combination and arrangement of parts as shall comewithin the purview of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An access door assembly comprising a door component formed of arectangular sheet of metal and including an end edge portion, a pair ofparallel side edge portions, and a handle portion constituting the edgeopposite said end edge portion, and a sheet metal frame component ofcomplementary rectangular configuration and comprising parallel side andend members of identical cross sectional configuration including amounting flange portion, a body portion projecting outwardly at rightangles to the plane of said mounting flange portion and a rebent edgeportion constituting a door edge receiving groove disposed in a planeparallel to said mounting flange portion with the open side of saidgroove disposed at the inner peripheral surface of said body portion;said side edges of said door component being slidably received in twoparallel ones of said door edge receiving grooves and said end edge ofsaid door component being received in another of said door edgereceiving grooves, said groove portion opposite said door end edgereceiving groove being collapsed to afford clearance for movement ofsaid door in said grooves in which it is slidably received, and saidhandle portion of said door being disposed at the side of said doorcomponent remote from said mounting flange portion of said framecomponent.

2. An access door assembly as claimed 'in claim 1 in which said framecomponent is formed from four side forming members which areinterconnected at the ends thereof to form said frame component.

3. An access door assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which said framecomponent is formed from four separate members, of identical crosssection welded together at the ends thereof and in which the mountingflange portions of said members are shaped to overlap at the corners ofsaid frame component affording means for connecting the mounting flangeportions of said frame component together by welding said overlappingportions together.

4. An access door assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which at least twosides of said frame component are formed from a length of sheet metalhaving said cross sectional configuration and being bent at right anglesthrough and transversely of the body portion only thereof to form acorner of said frame assembly.

5. An access door assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which certain ofsaid members include tongue portions constituting extensions of the bodyportions thereof which overlie and are Welded to the body portions ofadjacent ones of said members.

6. An access door assembly as claimed in claim 4 in which said cornersof said frame component are each reinforced and positioned by anL-shaped corner member welded to the mounting flanges of the portions ofsaid length of sheet metal which form the sides of said frame componentextending from said bend in said body portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,388,091 8/1921Bresnahan 20-39 X 1,737,515 11/1929 Petersen 201l X 1,876,407 9/1932Frazier 18975 X 2,766,856 10/1956 Nelsson 189----46 2,952,342 9/1960Schnittker 189-36 3,139,161 6/1964 Simon 18976 X FOREIGN PATENTS 477,6651/ 1938 Great Britain.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. KENNETH DOWNEY, Examiner.

1. AN ACCESS DOOR ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A DOOR COMPONENT FORMED OF ARECTANGULAR SHEET OF METAL AND INCLUDING AN END EDGE PORTION, A PAIR OFPARALLEL SIDE EDGE PORTIONS, AND A HANDLE PORTION CONSTITUTING THE EDGEOPPOSITE SAID END EDGE PORTION, AND A SHEET METAL FRAME COMPONENT OFCOMPLEMENTARY RECTANGULAR CONFIGURATION AND COMPRISING PARALLEL SIDE ANDEND MEMBERS OF IDENTICAL CROSS SECTIONAL CONFIGURATION INCLUDING AMOUNTING FLANGE PORTION, A BODY PORTION PROJECTING OUTWARDLY AT RIGHTANGLES TO THE PLANE OF SAID MOUNTING FLANGE PORTION AND A REBENT EDGEPORTION CONSTITUTING A DOOR EDGE RECEIVING GROOVE DISPOSED IN A PLANEPARALLEL TO SAID MOUNTING FLANGE PORTION WITH THE OPEN SIDE OF SAIDGROOVE DISPOSED AT THE INNER PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF SAID BODY PORTION;SAID SIDE EDGES OF SAID DOOR COMPONENT BEING SLIDABLY RECEIVED IN TWOPARALLEL ONES OF SAID DOOR EDGE RECEIVING GROOVES AND SAID END EDGE OFSAID DOOR COMPONENT BEING RECEIVED IN ANOTHER OF SAID DOOR EDGERECEIVING GROOVES, SAID GROOVE PORTION OPPOSITE SAID DOOR END EDGERECEIVING GROOVE BEING COLLAPSED TO AFFORD CLEARANCE FOR MOVEMENT OFSAID DOOR IN SAID GROOVES IN WHICH IT IS SLIDABLY RECEIVED, AND SAIDHANDLE PORTION OF SAID DOOR BEING DISPOSED AT THE SIDE OF SAID DOORCOMPONENT REMOTE FROM SAID MOUNTING FLANGE PORTION OF SAID FRAMECOMPONENT.